Australia news live: conservation group lashes Coalition promise to fast-track decision on expanding Woodside gas project
Albanese says Coalition promise on North West Shelf decision ‘another thought bubble’
Back at Anthony Albanese’s press conference, he has taken a question about the Coalition’s promise to fast-track a decision on Woodside’s North West Shelf if it wins the election.
The prime minister said the state government had the project “for a long period of time” but it has been with the federal government “just for a matter of weeks”.
We’ll go through that process in accordance with the law. Do we support the gas sector? Yes, but subject, of course, to environmental approvals.
Albanese said this was another “thought bubble” – but really “like a soap bubble, because it lasts about as long as a bit of a soap bubble that that comes up from a bubble bath or something, it just disappears into the ether”.
Within hours, they just come up with these things. Then they walk away from them, whether it’s referendums, whether it be zonal taxation rates, whether it be the other statements that Peter Dutton makes …
Key events
Dutton says only Coalition will make ‘people hear we are the best country in the world’
A reporter asked about the Coalition’s intention to add a question on antisemitism in the citizenship test – would it be an automatic fail if people get it wrong?
Peter Dutton did not answer directly, but answered:
We should make it clear that when people come here to our country, we want people to adhere to the rule of law, and we want people to be treated equally who are already here in our country [and] not to be discriminated against because of their religion or because of their skin colour or because of their religious affiliation or because of their political affiliation.
I think it’s time for us to assert our values and make sure that people hear very clearly that not only are we in the best country in the world, we’re going to make sure that that’s the case into the future, and we can only do that if there is a Coalition government elected after the election.
With that, the press conference wrapped up.
Dutton defends move towards referendum to deport dual citizens
On his proposal for a referendum to allow ministers to deport dual citizens, a reporter asked whether voters may view this as being aligned too closely with Donald Trump?
Peter Dutton said no, and spoke of his time as minister for home affairs:
I cancelled visas of about 6000 people who were non-citizens … They were people who were involved in terrorist activities. They were people who are involved in outlaw motorcycle gangs, who are probably the most evil networks of criminal enterprise in our country. And I cancelled those visas, and it made our country a safer place …
I want a mandate from the Australian people to be able to implement the laws which are necessary to keep us safe. The prime minister dismisses it as a thought bubble.
Multiple Coalition MPs have said this is not an official policy – Josh Butler has put together a timeline of the various comments made on this:
Dutton asked if gas has more prominent role than nuclear under Coalition plan
A reporter has asked if this move by the Coalition is an admission that gas has a more prominent role to play in energy than nuclear under its plan.
(David Littleproud weighed in on this earlier today, which you can read here.)
Peter Dutton says:
This is an announcement by us today which recognises that, yes, under our plan, nuclear is 44% cheaper than the government’s renewables-only policy, but in the interim, we can bring down prices if we increase the gas supply.
Dutton takes aim at Labor over energy bill relief promise
Peter Dutton also took aim at the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, for promising “on 97 occasions” to deliver a $275 price reduction on people’s electricity bills.
The pledge was first made before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Dutton told the media just now:
Almost at the end of this terrible term of government, the treasurer refuses to even mention that [$275]. So how could you believe anything that Jim Chalmers says going into the next election if they didn’t deliver on their last promises? How can you believe them on the promises that they’re making this time around?
Dutton addressing media in WA
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is holding a press conference in Western Australia.
He is announcing the Coalition is promising to fast-track a decision on Woodside’s North West Shelf gas extension if it wins the upcoming federal election.
He accused the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, as being the “minister for no mining”, and said:
Why would they destroy jobs and economic activity in WA? Because they want to chase green votes in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. And I think West Australians are smart enough to realise that they’re being duped by a prime minister who is no Mark McGowan, no Roger Cook, and frankly, he’s a prime minister that is against mining and is against agriculture and is against development.
Watch and act for Charters Towers amid rising river heights
Just following on from the previous post, an emergency watch and act alert has been issued for Charters Towers due to rising river heights at Charters Towers Weir.
Residents have been advised to prepare for level 5 water restrictions, should the river continue to rise.
Heavy rainfall warning issued for parts of north Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning of heavy rainfall for parts of north Queensland.
The BoM says it will be a continuation of heavy showers and a few thunderstorms about the coast and ranges of the Herbert and Lower Burdekin district. Six-hourly rainfall totals of between 100mm and 160mm are possible, with isolated totals of 190mm possible.
Conditions are set to ease during Wednesday afternoon.
Locations which may be affected include Ayr, Giru, Alva Beach, Woodstock and Clare.
Up to 211mm of rain has already been recorded in the six hours to 8.18am at Apjohn St, Horseshoe Bay.
Lehrmann inquiry head Walter Sofronoff engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’, review finds
Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff engaged in “serious corrupt conduct”, the ACT Integrity Commission has found, after reviewing his inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann.
The commission released a report on Wednesday into Sofronoff’s conduct as a Board of Inquiry into the prosecution.
It found that “Sofronoff’s conduct fell within several elements of the definition of ‘corrupt conduct’”, through his disclosures to two journalists: Janet Albrechtsen at The Australian newspaper and Elizabeth Byrne at the ABC.
Hazard reduction burns being conducted in Greater Sydney area
The NSW Rural Fire Service has said a number of hazard reduction burns are continuing throughout Greater Sydney today.
It warned the smoke from these burns may settle in the local area throughout the evening.
You can view the full list of hazard reduction burns on the RFS website.
Hazard reduction burning continues today, with land managers and fire agencies conducting several burns in the Greater Sydney and Blue Mountain areas. The smoke from these burns may settle in the local area throughout the evening. For more info, visit: https://t.co/XrE2qbcxpn pic.twitter.com/DPeyE3H8Cd
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) March 18, 2025
In US talks, a cautious NZ is keeping its head down
In some news from across the ditch via AAP: New Zealand is cautiously resetting its relationship with the United States as it watches radical shifts in policy and style from Donald Trump’s administration.
Two months on from Trump’s inauguration, the deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, has enjoyed talks in New York City and Washington DC. His self-declared mission statement?
Keep our head down. Wait until the dust settles before we make any decisions.
Peters, in his third stint as New Zealand’s foreign minister, met with American counterpart Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, today in the climax to talks on this week-long visit.
Peters described his trip as a “seriously valuable time” to be in the US, allowing him to see first-hand the maelstrom of changes and help Kiwi diplomats chart a pathway forward with the superpower.
Unlike Australia, New Zealand is not a formal defence ally with the US, though Washington and Wellington collaborate on many defence, intelligence and security projects.
Albanese says Australia-Canada relations ‘very separate’ to Canada-US relations
On Canada’s deal with Australia to develop an Arctic radar system, as we reported earlier, the prime minister was asked whether this is an example of how countries can diversify their defence supply chain to be less reliant on the US?
Anthony Albanese said it was an “excellent” one on one call last night, and provided a “good opportunity for us to get to know each other personally”:
Canada, of course, has an excellent relationship with Australia, and one of the things that the prime minister confirmed is that he is looking at what we have, which is our … radar network technology … We want to export wherever possible, and this will be a significant export if this deal is finalised.
The PM went into more detail about the call:
Last night we talked about … other areas as well, of potential cooperation … Obviously, there are issues taking place – particularly between Canada and the United States – that I wouldn’t have expected to have been happening in my lifetime, but we have a very separate relationship with Canada, and it’s a very good one.
PM on Coalition intention to add antisemitism question to citizenship test
Asked if he would support the Coalition’s intention to add an “antisemitism” question to the citizenship test (see earlier post), Anthony Albanese responded:
It’s another soap bubble. We’ll see if it lasts until, you know, a couple of hours away. Yesterday’s didn’t make it to lunchtime, so we’ll wait and see what happens.
The Coalition have run a campaign complaining that too many Australians were making the citizenship pledge, who’d been in the queue, some of them for years, in order to become Australian citizens.
PM lashes Coalition’s lack of economic policy and intention to cut public sector jobs
Anthony Albanese continued to lash the opposition and argued it needed to “start getting serious about policy”.
He took aim at the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, saying he had been on a tour this week before the budget but has “no economic policy”:
He put out a range of things when asked that weren’t actually economic policy, and no one has any idea what they stand for, except for $600bn on nuclear power plants.
On the Coalition’s intention to cut public sector jobs, Albanese said:
$350bn they say, is wasteful expenditure … The National Emergency Management Agency did not exist before we came to government. They are under the gun.
These public servants aren’t in Canberra. They’re in Hervey Bay, in a car park, helping people. And Peter Dutton regards them as being waste.
Albanese says Coalition promise on North West Shelf decision ‘another thought bubble’
Back at Anthony Albanese’s press conference, he has taken a question about the Coalition’s promise to fast-track a decision on Woodside’s North West Shelf if it wins the election.
The prime minister said the state government had the project “for a long period of time” but it has been with the federal government “just for a matter of weeks”.
We’ll go through that process in accordance with the law. Do we support the gas sector? Yes, but subject, of course, to environmental approvals.
Albanese said this was another “thought bubble” – but really “like a soap bubble, because it lasts about as long as a bit of a soap bubble that that comes up from a bubble bath or something, it just disappears into the ether”.
Within hours, they just come up with these things. Then they walk away from them, whether it’s referendums, whether it be zonal taxation rates, whether it be the other statements that Peter Dutton makes …
Coalition promising to fast-track decision on Woodside’s North West Shelf
Dan Jervis-Bardy
As we just flagged, the Coalition is promising to fast-track a decision on Woodside’s North West Shelf gas extension if it wins the upcoming federal election.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has vowed a Coalition government would make a ruling on Woodside’s application within 30 days under a new “national interest” test that forces decision-makers to give more weight to a project’s social and economic benefits as part of the environmental assessment.
Woodside wants to extend the life of its massive gas processing plant on the Burrup Peninsula in the state’s remote north-west out to 2070.
Scientists and conservation groups have described the project as a “climate bomb”, with one estimate suggesting the total emissions from Burrup Hub could reach 6bn tonnes once the gas was exported and burned overseas.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, last month deferred a ruling on the application until 31 March, avoiding a decision ahead of the WA state election.
If the federal election is called before the revised deadline, a decision on the project could not be made until after the poll.
In a statement, Dutton said it was “of national importance” that the project not be delayed any further.
We would expedite consideration of the North West Shelf project as a matter of urgency because, unlike Labor, we recognise the significance of the North West Shelf to the WA economy and the importance of secure and reliable gas supplies in pushing down energy prices.
The Albanese Labor Government has been the most anti-resources, anti-mining, anti-WA federal government in living memory.
In a separate move to stop “activists” blocking projects, a Coalition government would legislate a “statute of limitations” to prevent third-parties from challenging approvals that were issued more than 12 months earlier.
Dutton and the shadow environment minister, Jonno Duniam, will make the announcements on Wednesday in WA, a state in which Coalition is desperate to regain ground after losing five seats at the 2022 election.
PM giving press conference on cyclone disaster relief payments
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is giving a press conference about the disaster relief payments being given in the aftermath of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
As of last night, there’s been $80m paid in disaster relief payments. That’s making a difference, whether it be the $1,000 payments or $400 for children, or whether it be the more complex, 13-week payment that can come for people who are unable to continue to work.
Australian Conservation Foundation lashes Coalition plan to extend Woodside’s NW shelf until 2070
The Australian Conservation Foundation has accused the Coalition of “confusing the national interest with the commercial interests of a big fossil fuel company”, after reports emerged it would extend Woodside’s North West Shelf gas plant until 2070 if elected.
The ABC and Australian newspaper reported overnight the Coalition would approve the extension within 30 days of the election, and would limit the ability of protest groups to challenge approval decision.
In a statement, the ACF’s national nature policy adviser Brendan Sydes said:
If it gets the green light, Woodside’s North West Shelf expansion would emit billions of tonnes of carbon pollution to 2070, drive demand to open new gas fields and continue the deterioration of ancient First Nations rock art at Murujuga, which is being eaten away at by acid emissions from the neighbouring facility Woodside hopes to extend.
The proposal to limit the rights of Australians to challenge approval decisions would be a win for the gas lobby and a loss for the community.
Bandt calls for sanctions on Netanyahu amid latest deadly airstrikes on Gaza
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says Australia needs to move “from words to action” in its response to the latest airstrikes in Gaza, and put pressure on the Israeli government.
In a post to X, he wrote that civilians “cannot be asked to pay the price again” of the hostages being released:
Netanyahu’s decision to resume airstrikes on Gaza is horrific. More than 400 people have been killed already. Australia needs to move from words to action, and put pressure on Netanyahu’s extremist government to stop the genocide.
The Greens have always called for all hostages to be released unconditionally, but civilians cannot be asked to pay the price again. Our government should be sanctioning Netanyahu and his extremist government, ending the two-way arms trade, and recognising Palestine.
Israel has faced multiple accusations that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, including most recently from the UN:
Benita Kolovos
Allan reiterates that allegations of conspiracy to remove police commissioner and deputy are ‘baseless’
Jacinta Allan also held a press conference in Brunswick East this morning, where she faced questions over the report. She reiterated the allegations were “baseless” and said:
I’ve seen these reports, and I want to be really clear, these reports are completely untrue. These allegations, they’re baseless, completely untrue. It is really disappointing that there are some people who are choosing to politicise Ibac, politicise an integrity agency by making these absolutely baseless allegations.
